FiveStar Gourmet debuts taco salad with Beyond Meat crumbles

FiveStar Gourmet Foods, Ontario, Calif., is offering a new vegetarian taco salad with Beyond Meat protein, and the company has plans for more products with the plant-based protein.

The Simply Fresh Taco Salad features Beyond Meat’s beef crumbles. It recently became available in Publix supermarkets, and Five Star Gourmet will be shipping it to retailers nationwide starting in January.

The partnership with Beyond Meat presents opportunities for FiveStar Gourmet, according to a news release.

“We are thrilled to be working with Beyond Meat, a company we appreciate and respect,” Tal Shoshan, CEO of FiveStar Gourmet, said in the release. “This partnership allows us to be more versatile with our main product lines and enables us to feature plant-based protein as a key ingredient within all of our fresh, prepared categories, such as salads, breakfast and meal entrées.” 

Other ingredients in the premium salad are cheddar and Monterey jack cheese; a mix of fire-roasted corn, roasted red bell peppers and black beans; tri-color tortilla strips and red and green cabbage.

“From a culinary perspective, the Beyond Beef Crumbles are delicious, innovative, versatile and are designed to look, cook and taste like beef — which our chefs really like,” Shoshan said in the release. “Also, more importantly, a company like Beyond Meat aligns with our core values for innovation and sustainability, using high-quality ingredients to build food that’s better for people and the planet.”

The 7.5-ounce salads contain 25% more toppings than similar salads and are 260 calories.

"We're proud to partner with FiveStar to make delicious and nutritious plant-based meat more accessible for consumers on-the-go with the launch of the new Simply Fresh Taco Salad made with Beyond Meat," Tim Smith, Beyond Meat’s vice president of foodservice sales for North America, said in the release.

The salads are prepared at FiveStar Gourmet facilities in California and Florida.